Isabella of Lore
by maniacalmuse
Summary: RememberWhenThisWasFun Contest Entry, Prompt 13: "In my three hundred years, I've never seen a vampire with her powers." Edward & Bella cute, silly fluff. Rated M for dirty thoughts, bad language and extreme geekiness. AU/AH/OOC. *WINNER of BEST OVERALL!*


A/N: Hi everyone! Here's a quick little piece that I wrote for the _'Remember When This Was Fun'_ contest hosted by _sadtomato_ and _SingleStrand (MyLifeandHis_.) My prompt was #13: "In my three hundred years, I've never seen a vampire with her powers." As per the contest rules, it is the first sentence of the story.

Super thanks to _IReen H_ for pre-reading and _AngelGoddess1981_ for betaing! I would totally model my characters after you two beautiful chicas. *heart heart heart heart heart*

I definitely had fun writing this, and I hope you have fun reading it too! :)

_Obligatory Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight and its characters. I don't know if 'Lore' actually exists, but if it does, I don't own that either. (And if it DOESN'T exist, I copyright that motherfucker, all rights reserved universe-wide, bitchez! ;))_

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**~ Isabella of Lore ~**

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"In my three hundred years, I've never seen a vampire with her powers."

I try not to be cocky but I end up smirking anyways, because yeah, my Isabella is strong, and she's about to bring it down like Chinatown on Jasper's ass.

"Shut the fuck up, Ben," Jasper mutters. "And you're not three hundred years old, asshole."

"Cassandra's two hundred and ninety-five," Ben retorts.

"My point exactly, dipwad," Jasper fires back.

He's obviously flustered, which makes my impending triumph all the more awesome. My smirk turns into a wolfish grin.

"What the fuck are you waiting for?" Jasper growls, glaring daggers at me. "Let's dance, motherfucker."

I snicker and start to shake my hand, kissing my fist once for luck before I let the dice loose onto the table. We all lean forward to see the results.

"Fifteen weapons ... twelve defence ... and, ouch! Twenty-three magic!" Ben reads out. He looks up at Jasper. "Dude, that's gotta hurt."

"_Fuck_ this! Whatever, man. Just give me the damage."

I sit back while Ben records everything in the game book and tallies the scores. "Isabella wins, obviously," he says, nodding to me. "Maria retreats with five hit-points remaining and loses her most expensive item."

"Damn it!" Jasper loosens the tie around Maria's neck and throws the tiny studded '_Cloak of Aranmore'_ into the center of the table. "This is bullshit."

"Oh stop acting like a whiny little bitch," I tell him. "You lost fair and square."

"Fuck you!" is all I get in return. I just laugh. Jasper is only an asshole when he loses, and damn if it isn't funny as hell to see him lose his usual cool.

"Okay, Edward," Ben continues. "Isabella gains ten experience points and can choose one item from the B-list weapons for fifty silver."

"I'm good," I reply. Isabella already carries the '_Sword of Darthoon'_, which is pretty much unbeatable; no need to bog her down with anything else.

"All right then," Ben says, scribbling a few more things into the book. "Jasper, where does Maria go from here?"

I stand up before Jasper can answer. "I'm just gonna go get a soda," I tell them, heading for the door. "Either of you want anything?"

They both decline, and I'm out into the hallway before either one can change their mind. It's Friday night, which means most of the other college students are out partying and doing whatever else college-students-who-aren't-the-three-of-us do, so things around here are exceedingly quiet. Still, I barely have the door pulled shut behind me when I nearly crash full body into Bella Swan. My heart comes to a screeching halt. Holy fucking shit.

"Hi, Edward!" she exclaims as I panic and flatten myself back against my door.

"Hey," I reply lamely, my voice a few keys higher than normal. "Uh, sorry about that."

I'm pretty sure at least one of her boobs brushed my elbow in our little smack-up, and I can feel heat quickly spreading from the area to other ... places. Like my dick. Especially my dick. Okay, that's really the only place I feel anything right now.

"Oh, what?" Bella says. "No, that's okay. I mean, I wasn't watching where I was going. Totally my bad. Are you alright?"

"Me?" I squawk. "Yeah. I'm fine. All good. Never better. Um..." I'm babbling like a jackass, which is pretty much the norm when I'm around her. The girl is my very own brand of stupid pills.

"Good, good..." She just stares at me for a second, biting her lip and fiddling with her hair. "So, uh, what are you doing?"

"Doing? Oh. Just, uh..." _Definitely not playing some nerdy role-playing game..._ "Watching a movie."

"Cool. Which one?"

Fuck. Um...

All I can really see or think about right now are her boobs, and I say the first thing that pops into my head, which I happened to read off her shirt. "Nightfall."

"Really?" she says excitedly as the horror of my mistake crashes down on me.

Bella is obsessed with 'Nightfall', a teen-vampire-romance book series complete with movies, merchandise, and rabid, raving fan-girls. She has t-shirts, jewellery, posters, lunch boxes — you name it and she's got it. I even overheard her telling someone once that she writes fanfiction for it, which I definitely don't even kind of want to read really badly. I certainly didn't go looking for it only to discover 975,000 stories on one website alone. Only without her penname there was no way for me to know which ones were hers and so ... never mind.

"No!" I try to backpedal. "I mean, I haven't started it yet. It just came up on Netflix. I don't know if I'll watch it. I'm actually kind of tired..."

"Oh." Her face falls slightly, and I grimace, having no idea what to say or do now. Honestly, her obsession with this shit should probably terrify me and send me running for cover in the opposite direction, but she's just so pretty and nice that I actually find it really cute and endearing for some insane reason.

I'm completely screwed.

"Yeah, so..."

We just kind of stand there awkwardly for a few seconds until the door behind me suddenly opens and I nearly tumble backwards into Ben. "What the hell?" he yelps while he shoves me to the side, and I fall all over myself a bit more before finally righting myself against the doorframe. "Dude, what's your damage?" Ben asks me. "You said you were going for a soda like five minutes ago. Jasper's got Maria set up at the Shandralla Inn and it's your tur— Oh... Hey, Bella."

I cringe at the fact that he didn't notice her standing there until _after_ he blabbed the dorky details of exactly what we were doing tonight, but when I look back at Bella she appears completely unfazed.

"Hey, Ben!" She gives him a big smile, and I kind of hate him for a second. I want that smile all for myself. "Are you and Jasper watching a movie too?"

"Movie?" Ben says dumbly, so I stomp on his foot. "Oh. Movie. Uh, yeah sure. Which one are we watching again?"

"Nightfall," I mutter, knowing full well that I basically just castrated the three of us and that neither Ben nor Jasper will ever forgive me for this.

Yep. Ben looks at me like I just asked him to eat a rancid ballsack. "Nightfall... Right. Can't wait."

I grimace at him apologetically.

"It's a really great movie," Bella breathes. "Even better than the books. I mean the way the director brings the characters to life..."

"Characters..." Ben repeats. The sly, side-eyed grin he flashes me sends a jolt of fear quivering through my stomach. "Edward's got a pretty big thing for characters. Don't you, Ed?"

Bella looks at me, intrigued. "Oh, really? Nightfall characters? Who are your favourites?"

I'm too confused to respond. All I can do is look at Ben questioningly. What the hell is he even talking about?

"No, no. Not Nightfall," Ben clarifies, staring at me pointedly. I'm becoming more nervous by the second. "Edward's more into making his own characters. Well, sort of. He definitely gets his inspiration from ... _real life_." He looks to Bella as he says the last two words with extra emphasis.

I'm stunned speechless. Is he? Did he just suggest to her...? OH, NO HE DID NOT FUCKING JUST...

"Really?" Bella says, extra excited now. "Can I see them? Or can you tell me about them? Edward?"

She's talking to me, but I'm just standing here, looking back and forth between them with equal parts panic and rage brewing in my gut. I can't believe Ben just threw me under the bus like this. But I also can't believe Bella wants anything to do with, well, anything I have to do with. It's all very confusing at the moment.

"I... Well... I... Um..." My babbling is out of control. I just don't even know what the fuck to do.

Then Ben decides to completely ruin my life. "Of course you can see them! Do you want to come in?" he asks Bella.

Her face lights up even brighter and she beams at him. "Yes, I would love to!" She looks so genuinely excited that I kind of wonder for a second if maybe this isn't such a bad thing after all, but then my eyes wander past her as she moves into my room, and they land on the action figures on the table. Holy shit, no. This is a bad, bad, bad thing.

Ben smirks at me as he follows behind Bella, and my brain immediately begins plotting out a thousand and one ways for him to die. He is so dead. So dead that I can't even think up an appropriate demise for him, because he is really just _dead_ to me. Friendship terminated, effective immediately. I wish I could have this printed on a pink slip or something so it would be _that_ official.

"Wow, I've never been in your room before..." Bella is saying to me. "It's really nice. Tidy..."

"Er, thanks," I mumble, embarrassed beyond reason. Suddenly I realize I'm still glued to the doorframe, while Bella is wandering around my dorm room just looking at everything. _Everything._ She's immersed in my stuff like she's reading a book about my soul or something. It's undeniably terrifying ... and maybe just a little bit strangely exciting.

Until she comes to my bookcase and her fingers trail along the spines of my sketchbooks.

I leap away from the door, tripping my way over to where she is standing, looking very much like she wants to pull one off the shelf. "Don't! Oh, uh ... those are nothing. Nothing interesting."

Her hand drops away quickly. "I'm sorry." She hesitates. "Do... Do you draw?"

Shit, she just apologized to me. That is so not cool. Now I feel like a total ass for making her uncomfortable. "A little," I admit, trying to recover. "I mean, just for fun. I'm not good or anything."

"Yes he is!" Ben pipes up from behind us.

I turn and see that he's kneeling beside the little coffee table again, fiddling with the abandoned game dice. I had completely forgotten that Jasper was even here, but he's still sitting there just as he was when I left, only now he's staring at me like I'm a one-man circus that just rolled into town.

"I bet you are," Bella says quietly, bringing my attention back to her. "I'd like to see, if you want to show me. I won't laugh or anything."

"That's the least of my worries," I say awkwardly.

She looks a little perplexed but doesn't say anything else, instead turning to the middle of the room where Ben and Jasper are watching our exchange in very obvious amusement. "Oh my gosh! Jasper, I didn't even see you there!" she exclaims. "I'm so sorry. How are you?"

"I'm just fine, thank ya," he replies, laying his southern accent on extra thick because he knows it makes girls all gushy.

It works; Bella grins all lopsided and her knees kind of press together where she stands. What the fuck, dude? I glare at him and he looks away, chuckling.

Bella turns back to me. "So, um, can I see your drawings? Or these characters Ben was talking about?" she asks, sending full-on panic screaming through my veins again.

Ben and Jasper are both practically choking on their stifled laughter. I hate them both so much right now I'm kind of surprised neither of them has burst into flames yet. "It's really just one character," Jasper adds helpfully, effectively sealing himself in a double coffin with Ben. Why are both of my best friends being total assbags tonight?

Not knowing what else to do, I look down at Bella, and her eyes are all-out pleading with me to show her. Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.

"I... I don't know." I say lamely. I can't. I can't do it. She'll never even look at me again.

"Can you just tell me about them then?" she tries. "What kind of character is it?"

"Um..." I glance back over to Ben and Jasper. Ben has Isabella in his hands and is making her wave at us, tiny plastic fingers stretched up to the ceiling. Motherfucker.

I sigh, resigned. I don't know why those fucktards are making me do this, but it's pretty obvious they aren't going to let it go. If I don't explain this to Bella myself, who knows what she'll end up thinking. "It's from a game."

"Like a video game?"

"No, a role-playing board game. It's called 'Lore.'"

"Oh. So you get to make up a character to play with?"

"Yeah, pretty much. Mine's a vampire priestess."

Bella's eyes widen at the mention of vampires. Which, of course, does not surprise me in the least. I chose that race for a reason, after all. "Cool! What does she do?"

"Um, well, she's really strong with magic. And she has healing powers. Oh, and pretty much the best weapon in the game." Even in my humiliation, it's hard to keep the pride out of my voice. I worked hard to get Isabella to where she is today.

"And what does she look like?"

Shit.

"She looks like this!" Ben calls out, holding up the Isabella action figure for Bella to see.

Double shit.

Bella walks over to the table and takes the figure from him, turning it over to get a better look at all the details. "Wow. This is amazing. Did you make this?" she asks me.

"Kind of," I admit reluctantly, my cheeks and ears burning hotly. "You can buy the separate parts like hair, head, body, clothes and weapons. I just painted the face."

"You did a really good job."

"Thanks," I mumble. I'm so fucking embarrassed right now that all I can do is stare at my shoes. They're brand new Chuck Taylor high tops tucked under my jeans, and the super-white toes are gleaming brightly, like a too-wide creepy smile. I kick at one with my other shoe, trying to scuff it up a little.

"I like her hair," Bella says, brushing her fingers down the long dark strands. "Why didn't you give her brighter eyes though? Like green or blue? I mean, isn't brown hair and brown eyes kind of boring?"

I look up at her, a little stunned. There's absolutely nothing boring about the hair and eyes I'm met with. "I don't think so. In fact, it's my favourite combination."

A slight blush creeps up Bella's neck, settling on her cheeks. She gazes back down at the Isabella figure and smiles.

I hear what sounds like a muffled gagging sound from the other side of the room and look up to see Ben and Jasper quickly heading for the door. "Hey, uh, I think we're gonna jet," Ben says awkwardly. "You guys have ... stuff to talk about ... or something. So, uh, yeah. See you later."

Ben's out the door without a glance back at us, and Jasper just nods as he follows. Then Bella and I are alone. In my room. _Alone._

My hands start to shake slightly as Bella puts down the action figure and moves back over to my side. Was she standing this close to me before? She suddenly seems _really_ close. I can almost feel the heat radiating from her skin. "So, can I see the drawings now?" she asks quietly.

I swallow the huge lump of terror in my throat. There really isn't any going back from this point. She's already seen and heard all the rest of the humiliating truth, so why not go balls-deep and just give her the whole show? "Yeah, okay." My voice comes out low and unsure, but I've already decided that I'm going through with it.

I pull one of the sketchbooks down and set it on my desk, stepping back to allow Bella to look for herself. She flips open the cover and gasps when she sees the first picture. Her breathing is sharp and ragged as she turns through the pages; I think mine has ceased completely. My heart might have stopped too. I can't even feel my body as I wait for her full reaction.

When she gets to the last picture in the book, she reaches out to touch the page, trailing her fingers down the flowing, dark-brown hair, over the brown eyes set in a soft, heart-shaped face, and down the long, bare legs ending in black, worn leather boots. "She's beautiful," Bella says, barely above a whisper.

"Yes," I agree. "I've always thought so."

Bella's gaze snaps up to meet mine and she licks her lips. "You draw her a lot."

I shrug. "She fascinates me."

Her eyes move back to the page, and she points to the mark made visible by the drawing's short skirt blown sideways in the wind. "What's this?"

"A tattoo."

Bella laughs lightly. "Yes, I know. But what does it mean?"

I chew my lip for a few seconds before answering. I know as soon as I tell her that it will make or break the situation. I can't really stop now, though. Not when Bella is looking at me so expectantly, her eyes gazing steadily into mine — at _me_ — like I've wanted for so long.

"It's her sigil," I finally say. "An elaborate 'I.'"

I can see the question forming behind her lips before she speaks it. The question I have been dreading since she first stepped into my room, the one that will reveal the depths of my secret adoration. Yet somehow, I'm now realizing, it's the one thing I've wanted her to know for so, so long. "What does the 'I' stand for?"

And there it is. The answer passes easily from my own mouth before I even realize that I'm actually telling her. "It's her name: Isabella."

"Isabella," she breathes. "Like ... my name?"

I smile hesitantly. "Exactly like your name."

"Edward, that's ... that's..."

I barely have time to register the movement before her arms are around my neck, pulling my face down to her level. My surprise is quickly replaced by other, much stronger feelings once her mouth finds mine, her soft, warm lips pressing against me boldly. I think I might be floating. Did I mention that her lips are soft and warm? Because they are _so_ soft and warm. Instinctively, I slide my hands around her waist, pulling her closer to me, and then her boobs are pushing against my chest as she licks the crease of my lips.

Her _boobs._

Her _tongue._

Both are on me and I'm feeling everything at once like I'm going to explode into a million pieces and dear God, I hope I don't _explode_, if you get what I'm saying, because that would be beyond fucking mortifying and I really don't want anything to ruin this perfect moment of Bella kissing me.

Bella is kissing me. In my room. After she saw my game and pictures and everything.

I am on cloud fucking nine hundred.

I part my lips and the kiss gets deeper, our tongues exploring new territory and quickly finding a comfortable place to play. Bella is an amazing kisser, kind of bold and shy at the same time but definitely confident, and never, ever sloppy. I could kiss her all night, and maybe I'll get to. The thought sends good feelings to parts other than my mouth. I really hope she's thinking the same about my kissing, because it would tragically suck if she wasn't.

After a few more minutes Bella pulls away, but the flushed, lazy look of satisfaction on her face tells me it's not for any bad reason. "I'm getting dizzy," she admits. "Can we sit down?"

I grin and take her hand, leading her to the couch. Of course I'm wondering if maybe we'll make out some more, but it's just as awesome when she snuggles up against me and leans her head on my shoulder, letting me wrap my arms around her. Holding her feels like the most natural thing ever, and I already know that I want to do it a lot, like every day if she'll let me. We just sit here for a few minutes, surprisingly cool considering everything that just went down. It's really just ... perfect.

"So," Bella says after a while, "that's all really, truly me?"

"Yes."

"All those beautiful pictures... Wow. I just can't even believe it. And even the doll?"

"Ye—" Wait, did she just say _doll_? "The Isabella _action figure_ is modelled after you," I correct, somewhat indignantly.

Bella catches my drift and giggles. "I'm sorry. _Action figure_."

I laugh, a little embarrassed again, but she's in my arms now so I don't really care all that much. "I was so worried that it would freak you out," I finally admit. "It doesn't, I mean ... scare you at all?"

She sits up and turns so we can make eye contact. "Not even a little bit. I've liked you for a long time, Edward. I know you; you're not a creep. It's actually really flattering," she says, a soft blush following the smile that lights up her face.

"Yeah?" I'm so relieved I think I might be floating again. Also, Bella just said she's liked me for a long time, which, while being utterly surprising, makes me happier than I ever thought something could. This night is easily the best, best, _best_ night of my life. I can't even imagine things turning out any better. "That's really ... good."

Bella's smile twists slightly into a crooked grin. "Very good. In fact, I'd go so far as to say it's really _hot._" Suddenly her hands fist into my shirt, and she pulls me down until I'm lying on top of her. "Call me Isabella," she whispers sexily.

Best night of my life, +1.

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A/N2: Well, that's it! I hope you all enjoyed reading this little story as much as I enjoyed writing it :) Thanks so much for checking it out. Reviews are much appreciated!

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There are lots of other awesome one-shots in the contest C2, at:

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Please remember to vote for your favorites when the time comes too!


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